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Very incomplete list!
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James De Wolf (1764-1837) —
of Bristol, Bristol
County, R.I.
Born in Bristol, Bristol
County, R.I., March
18, 1764.
Democrat. Slave trader; built an early cotton
mill; manufacturer;
member of Rhode
Island state house of representatives, 1800; Speaker of
the Rhode Island State House of Representatives, 1819-21; U.S.
Senator from Rhode Island, 1821-27.
Slaveowner.
Died in New York, New York
County, N.Y., December
21, 1837 (age 73 years, 278
days).
Original interment at De
Wolf Family Cemetery, Bristol, R.I.; reinterment at Juniper
Hill Cemetery, Bristol, R.I.
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Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877) —
also known as "Wizard of the Saddle" —
of Memphis, Shelby
County, Tenn.
Born near Chapel Hill, Bedford County (now Marshall
County), Tenn., July 13,
1821.
Democrat. Cotton planter;
slave trader; general in the Confederate Army during the Civil
War; in April 1864, after the Battle of Fort Pillow, Tennessee,
Confederate troops under his command massacred
African-American Union soldiers, not accepting them as prisoners,
since the Confederacy refused to
recognize ex-slaves as legitimate combatants; this event, seen as
a war
crime, sparked outrage
across the North, and a congressional inquiry;
in 1867, he became involved in the Ku Klux
Klan and was elected Grand Wizard; the organization used violent
tactics to intimidate
Black voters and suppress
their votes; delegate to Democratic National Convention from
Tennessee, 1868;
in 1869, he had a change of heart, and issued a letter ordering that
the Klan be dissolved and its costumes destroyed; he went on to
denounce the group and its crimes; in 1875, he gave a "friendly
speech" to a meeting of an African-American organization in Memphis,
calling for peace, harmony, and economic advancement of former
slaves; for this speech, he was vehemently denounced in the Southern
press.
English
ancestry. Member, Ku Klux Klan.
After his death, he became a folk hero among white Southerners,
particularly during the imposition of Jim Crow segregation laws in
the early 20th century, and later, in reaction to the Civil Rights
movement in the 1950s and 1960s.
Slaveowner.
Died, from complications of diabetes,
in Memphis, Shelby
County, Tenn., October
29, 1877 (age 56 years, 108
days).
Original interment at Elmwood
Cemetery, Memphis, Tenn.; reinterment in 1904 at Health Sciences Park, Memphis, Tenn.; memorial monument at Myrtle
Hill Cemetery, Rome, Ga.; memorial monument at Live
Oak Cemetery, Selma, Ala.
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